Everyone who drives a gasoline or diesel powered vehicle on the streets in the United States pays taxes that go towards keeping the roads around the country and within your local community in good condition. We pay these taxes at the pump when we buy fuel.

However, one of the side effects to the Obama administration's push to get Americans to buy more fuel-efficient electric or hybrid vehicles is that the amount of money raised in fuel taxes by states is decreasing. The Oregon state legislature is reportedly considering a bill that would require drivers of vehicles getting at least 55 mpg to pay a tax on each mile driven after 2015.

The bill would also give drivers the option of paying a flat tax amount annually. Currently, taxes on fuel within the state of Oregon are 30 cents per gallon.

“Everybody uses the road and if some pay and some don’t then that’s an unfair situation that’s got to be resolved,” said Jim Whitty, manager of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Office of Innovative Partnerships and Alternative Funding.

Oregon isn't the only state considering charging drivers of fuel-efficient vehicles attacks on the miles they drive; Nevada and Washington are also looking at per mile charges. Drivers of electric vehicles in Washington will begin paying an annual fee in March.

Automotive manufacturers and dealers see this proposed per mile tax as a significant hindrance to the mass adoption of hybrid and fully-electric vehicles.

I can't begin to say how crazy this would be. It's taxing behavior that is ultimately desirable (lower energy usage, less dependency on foreign oil, etc. etc.). Having two different taxes to serve the same end because one doesn't work any more is a stupid response that just encourages bureaucratic clutter in the tax system. Instead, come up with a uniform method (that ideally does correlate well to the impact seen by anyone benefiting from the spend that results). In this case, if they think they can solve the issues of measurement raised by many people here, just replace the gas tax entirely with a per-mile driven tax that is neutral to fuel economy.

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